A poem written about the repression of society, using the symbolism of birds to represent how we are trapped in the "land of the free and the land of opportunity."
A mask on a set of blue fluttering in the vast sky.
A flock, in the herd of the followers.
A leader in the hollow sound of an empty white room,
With no imagination allowed.
“Set me free,” they cry.
The birds’ wings glued together by a set list of rules.
Speak, do, fly, eat, sing, stop, and go.
The red and blue parakeets marked with scarred stars,
Hide behind their submissive armor of steel,
Trying to be brave.
“Set me free,” they cry.
Do we make a decision based on the tightness
Of our wings?
Or do we think upon the whips of our wings
In the air?
Crying blue and red parakeets, crying for a change.
“Set me free,” they cry.
Lost the battle, not winning the war,
Thrown into a jailed freedom with tight clothes on.
Tearing at a shaky flag, the “land of the free,”
Red stripes hang like the blood pouring,
From the seams of a broken country.
“Set me free,” they cry.
Breathe to calm the sparrow’s heartbeat,
Only to cause a ricochet, set off a shaky inhale.
Painful echoes from hopeless laughter,
Frowns from smiles as the parakeets sit in their cages.
Inhale the flaming fumes, exhale the fire flowers.
“Set me free,” they cry.
Desperation or hope lost in the shallowness,
Of our selfish, greedy land.
The birds have fallen from the white birch tree.
“Set me free,” they whisper.